


Recharge

by ultharkitty



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 17:40:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3076568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultharkitty/pseuds/ultharkitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Whirl makes a breakthrough in therapy, and Rung proposes something new to help with his nightmares. </p><p>Contains references to past abuse (by the Functionist Council), hurt/comfort (heavy on the talking therapy), fluff, and non-erotic p'n'p. Written to this request from an anon on Tumblr: 'I would very much live to read some hurt/comfort sex beween rung and whirl either dealing with whirl's empurata or rung being experimentd on by the senate (or both if you are up for that!)'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Recharge

"I know it's hard for you," Rung said. He wasn't sitting behind his desk, but alongside it. He'd brought the chair out as soon as Whirl had started to shiver. "Empurata can't have been easy to endure."

"Deserved it," Whirl snapped. He picked at the arm-rest of his chair with his claws. "Must have, otherwise why'd they do it?" 

"They did a lot of things they shouldn't have," Rung said, and Whirl's head snapped up.

"You're not supposed to say that," he snarled. "You're supposed to ask me stupid questions like why I think I deserve it."

"Why _do_ you think you deserved it?" Rung asked, and Whirl glared. 

"I don't," he said sullenly. "I didn't deserve it. They were fragged in the head, the lot of them. Should've blown 'em all up first chance I got."

"They're in the past now," Rung reminded him. "Our past. They're still real to us because their actions contributed towards the people we became, but _they_ are gone."

"Are you saying the Functionists made me?"

"No," Rung said, "I'm saying they played a part in shaping the person you are today."

"Oh yeah?" Whirl crossed his arms under his chest. "Then what am I?"

"You're angry," Rung said. "And I can understand why. They hurt us so badly, and we couldn't do anything to stop them. But you're also complex and remarkable and strong. Remember when we talked about helpful and unhelpful thoughts?"

Whirl gave the floor a careful study while he tapped his foot. After a minute he said, "Yeah, I remember. When you go through a bad patch, if that bad patch is long enough, you just try to survive."

"And?" Rung encouraged. 

"And your brain changes the way you think to help you survive," Whirl said. He caught Rung's eye and huffed. "And those changes stay with you, so when you're safe you still think like you're in danger all the time, even though you're not."

"You remembered that well," Rung said. 

"Doesn't stop it hurting," Whirl grumbled. 

"I know," Rung said. "But that's why we're here, to try to deal with the consequences of their actions."

"I'm a consequence," Whirl said. 

A sad smile passed over Rung's lips, and he put a hand on Whirl's claw. "Your unhelpful thought processes are a consequence of their actions," he said. " _You_ are the product of your own ingenuity."

Whirl huffed again. "I came out so well," he said. 

"Better than you think," Rung said. "You haven't got into any fights since we last spoke."

"I haven't had to," Whirl countered. 

Rung really did smile then. "I don't make it a habit to watch you, but there's only one bar on this ship, and I distinctly remember seeing you diffuse a potentially volatile situation there the night before last."

"I could have taken him."

"That's not the point," Rung said. "I saw you get into an argument with Trailcutter, and you used words to express yourself and to prevent the situation from escalating." He paused, making sure he had Whirl's full attention. "That is truly wonderful progress, I'm so very proud of you."

"Yeah," Whirl stared at his own feet. "Whatever."

"What do you think about what you did?"

Whirl shrugged. "Not much," he said. "Teebs was fendered, I could've knocked him clean out without spilling my drink."

"But you didn't knock him out. You talked him down and helped him back to his hab-suite. How would you have responded six months ago?"

"I'd have tried to kill him," Whirl said. "Not _seriously_ kill him, but yeah, I'd have beaten him into scrap metal."

"And this time..."

Whirl rolled his optic. "I talked my way through it," he said. "OK, yeah, so I did a thing I wouldn't have done. Doesn't stop the nightmares, does it?"

Rung shook his head. "We don't expect it to. Dealing with past trauma is a separate process from being in control of your current behaviour."

"I fraggin' hate this," Whirl said. He leaned back in the chair, making the springs creak. "It never goes away. All that scrap just builds up and up, and us talking about it doesn't make any of it go away. I just wanna recharge all night long. Just once. Without all that slag coming back at me."

Rung nodded, and made a note on a datasheet on the corner of his desk. "I think we can do something about that," he said. 

Whirl blinked. "That's not what you said last time."

"You've made a lot of progress since then," Rung responded. "It's clear to me that you've made a breakthrough in your behaviour towards others."

"So what?" Whirl folded his arms even tighter. "So you can get Ratchet to fit a circuit dampener?"

Rung shook his head. "That's not what I'm about to suggest," he said. "What I'm going to propose is backed up by a considerable amount of research. It may not work for you, there's a twenty percent chance it won't have any effect at all, but in the vast majority of studies patients have experienced at least some relief."

Whirl tiled his head, tapping his claws against his waist. "So what it is?"

* * *

In a private ward of the Lost Light's medibay, Whirl shifted nervously on the berth. He lay on his side, trying to get comfortable, but the lights were different from his hab-suite, the sound of the ship's engines louder. He kept catching First Aid's voice through the door and wondering is his own grumbles and huffs were half as audible. 

"Let me know when you've settled," Rung said, laying calm and still beside him. Whirl growled that he had, and Rung gave him another minute or so before he unspooled Whirl's interface cables and plugged them in. 

It wasn't meant to be erotic. Whirl tried not to think erotic thoughts, or any thoughts at all. Rung gently entered his systems, waiting politely for Whirl to lower his firewalls. 

"We can stop if you like," Rung said. "We can find someone else for you to do this with, or try a different kind of therapy."

"No," Whirl said gruffly. "No, it's cool. We both got fragged by the Functionists, you said it yourself."

"Not in so many words," Rung said. "But yes. Personal experience can help me to empathise with you. Studies have shown that when both parties have endured similar events this can work very well indeed."

Whirl shuddered and tried not to think about Rung's connectors getting closer to his port, about his own cable plugged into that rather attractive tiny waist. This was about the fear, the voices, the pain which came back night after night, year after year, grating on his nerves and making him do things he never wanted to do, things he ended up regretting.

"Would you like a blanket?" Rung said. "I'm having one, I'm a little cold." It was probably a lie, a ruse to get Whirl to accept a bit of physical comfort, but it worked. Whirl held out a claw, and was surprised when Rung spread the blanket over both of them. 

"Lights down," Whirl snapped, and the ship's computer cut the overhead fluorescents, and dimmed those mounted on the walls. 

Rung sent another access request, and Whirl forced his firewalls to deactivate. What happened next he could never have prepared for. It was as though Rung was in his mind, not in his thoughts, not reading him, but in his head as close and real as his physical form on the med-berth beside him. Rung smiled, and Whirl felt his tiredness, his need for recharge. And his hope, his fondness, his deep appreciation that Whirl had once called him _friend_.

"So what do we do now?" Whirl said, and the Rung in his mind conjured a landscape of rolling alien hills, a crystal-clear stream flowing softly at their feet. 

"We sit," Rung said. "We talk. We could play a game, or recall some pleasant memories. I have some saved that we could use."

"Then what?" Whirl said, as the urge to fidget ebbed. 

"Then we recharge," Rung said. "When we're ready. Remember, we're focusing on the positives here."

Whirl nodded, and wasn't sure if it was his actual head that he moved or the thought of his head in Rung's dreamscape. "And the nightmares don't come?" he said. 

Rung smiled. "I hope not."

* * *

The nightmares didn't come. Whirl slept soundly, safe and calm in the mindscape Rung had fashioned for him. 

When he awoke, they were still connected, and Rung was gathered in his arms, sound asleep. Whirl pulled the blanket to cover him again, And Rung stirred but didn't wake. After a while Whirl curled around him and went back into recharge.


End file.
